


brighter than the sun

by lordberenger



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: M/M, Post-Canon, Post-Kings Rising, Post-The Summer Palace, literally the day after tsp, much like them, this is soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-04
Updated: 2018-04-04
Packaged: 2019-04-18 10:01:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14210694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lordberenger/pseuds/lordberenger
Summary: The day after they are reunited in Lentos, Damen has a gift for Laurent.





	brighter than the sun

The air was heavy with the scent of summer, rich fragrances borne by the south-western wind. Damen stepped out on the large balcony that overlooked the gardens, breathing in the warm evening air, the memories it brought like a balm on his peaceful mind.

Laurent was already there, as Damen had known he would be, leaning on the large stone railing. He looked up when Damen came behind him, alerted, it seemed, more by a sixth sense rather than sound. Damen’s bare feet were silent on the sun-heated marble of the balcony.

“Hello,” Laurent said, a bit nonsensically. They had spent the afternoon together until Damen had to slip away to make sure his present was ready.

Now he was fetching Laurent to show it to him. After a day of lovemaking, seeing Laurent’s surprised and delighted face would be one last treat for Damen.

“Were you following my progress still?” Damen said, glancing down to the gardens. Laurent had the same view upon them as he had when he had been waiting for Damen and his retinue by the east fountain.

The smell of rare flowers and wild thyme was almost dizzying. Damen stepped closer to Laurent, until their backs were almost touching, and circled his toned waist with his arms. Laurent leaned back, easing the weight off his hands and resting it against Damen’s chest instead. He was delightfully warm against Damen’s bare arms, the cloth of his chiton too hot for body heat: he had been waiting in the late afternoon sun for a while. The idea pleased Damen, and he rested his chin on top of Laurent’s head, closing his eyes.

Laurent huffed and tilted his head up, nudging him.

“We are not so unevenly matched,” he said.

“No,” Damen said. Then remembering an old conversation: “You are everywhere in proportion.”

“You’re simply too big,” Laurent concluded.

“Does it bother you?”

Laurent’s hand came up, closing on Damen’s forearm around his middle. His fingers seemed to glide on the skin, up and down and sideways, in little circles.

“No,” he said. He squeezed down like he did sometimes when he forgot himself in appreciation of Damen’s biceps.

Damen tugged him and twirled him until they were face to face, his hands resting low on Laurent’s back. It was Laurent who closed the gap between them, raising himself until he reached Damen. His mouth was pliant and gentle against Damen’s and his hands buried themselves in Damen’s locks. They kissed for a long time, unhurried and already sated, calm in the early evening glow.

Laurent had protested earlier that Damen kept pushing back their plans to go riding, but come midday he’d relented, knocked down to the shade by the blistering heat. That was how people lived in Akielos, Damen said: one had to wait out the wave of heat until late afternoon.

Only people who can afford to take their time, Laurent had said, and they had tumbled back to bed.

Later: the horses wouldn’t hold in the sun.

Damen was still thinking about the red tint Laurent’s shoulders had already begun to take and had hid his smile in Laurent’s skin, agreeing by the slow movement of his hips.

Now it was time: the wind had picked up, coming from the sea with a pleasantly refreshing breeze. He thought of taking Laurent to the beach, following the white cliffs and leading the horses to the water. Or they could head inland, through the pockets of lush vegetation and prickly, odorous plants.

First, he had a gift to deliver.

Laurent seemed to sense the shift in Damen’s priorities: he lowered his arms before Damen himself could make the decision to stop kissing him and looked at him.

“What is it?” Then: “You came from the stables. Now you want to go riding?”

“It’s the best time of the day.”

Drily, Laurent said: “Maybe we should have thought of that before you fucked me so thoroughly.”

“Oh.” Damen put his hand on Laurent’s ass, massaging softly as if it would solve anything.

“Don’t worry. I’ve ridden with worse.”

Damen wanted to frown, but Laurent was already leading him out, back into the King’s chambers then along the empty corridor, down the stairs, around the corner of the palace, and out into the gardens.

He moved with assurance, retracing steps Damen had never seen him take. They passed the bathhouse, turned into the north gardens. The smell and sounds of horses and stables announced their destination. Damen stopped just before entering and tugged Laurent back to his side.

“Wait,” he said. “Close your eyes.”

Laurent did not close his eyes; he raised his eyebrow high on his forehead, looking for all intent and purpose as though he thought Damen had lost his mind.

“I have a present for you.”

“Do you, now.”

The setting was too obvious, Damen’s intent clear as day. Laurent looked at him, then at the stables behind him, and smiled so earnestly that Damen wanted to carve it on marble, preserving it. Marble would not do the warmth of Laurent’s eyes justice, however, and it was a shame that they shut a moment later.

Damen almost told him to open his eyes again; he refrained because the stableman had come out and was looking at him meaningfully. Damen gestured for him to bring out the young mare, taking hold of Laurent’s arms to turn him in direction of the stables’ entrance, laying a hand on his eyes just so he could feel his eyelashes fluttering against his palm.

He didn’t try to move Laurent more than that: they can hear the sound of hooves on the ground, ruining the surprise, but it wasn’t much of one to begin with. He could feel a new tension in Laurent’s body, taut like the chords of a lyre waiting to be plucked.

Laurent inclined his head this way and that, obviously trying to guess how far the mare was, and maybe other things too, intellectualizing what he should leave to his senses.

The stableman brought the mare close, then closer still, answering to Damen’s indications, until the mare’s gentle snort ruffled Laurent’s loose chiton. Laurent exhaled softly in answer, maybe unconsciously, and took the lead rope from the stableman so assuredly that had Damen not laid his hand over his eyes, he would have thought Laurent had cheated.

“Will the King of Akielos let his lover marvel over the grand surprise he gifted him?”

The stableman was waved away; Damen didn’t want witnesses for Laurent to be mindful of; he wanted the entirety of his personal earnestness.

“Don’t act too surprised.”

He lifted his hand; Laurent’s hair was slightly mussed where the cuff had caught and rubbed. Damen watched him blink and focus on the mare. The expression on his face was the same blank display of emotions he adopted when he did not know how to react yet. As Damen watched, Laurent’s eyes grew fonder, and his touch was very gentle when he brought his hand up to pet the horse’s forehead. He watched Laurent take in the mare’s lithe but strong body, her lustrous coat and the long strands of her pale mane.

“She’s beautiful,” he said after a while.

“Yes. She’s five-years-old. She’s been broken in.”

“Yes,” Laurent said, looking pointedly at the peaceful behavior of the horse, who did not even blink at the halter strapped to her face, “I gathered.”

Keeping a hand on her, Laurent held the rope to Damen and walked around the horse, inspecting her coat with the air of the connoisseur he was. She followed his process with her head, but stayed calm, even when he walked behind her. Soon he was back next to Damen, taking back the rein.

“Thank you,” he said, looking away for the first time since he’d opened his eyes. “Damen—thank you.”

Damen had expected thanks, and hoped for Laurent’s happiness, but he found himself unprepared for the simplicity of Laurent’s emotions. He held out his hand and Laurent took it, anchored on both side by the mare and Damen. He tugged Damen in for a long kiss, opening his mouth with the same vulnerable softness he expressed at times Damen did not expect.

Damen pulled away too soon, but even now he could not completely forget the servants who busied themselves in the stables.

“Come on,” he said, walking hand in hand with Laurent to the building. “Let’s go for that ride.”

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr: [lordberenger](http://lordberenger.tumblr.com)


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